


Don't Disrespect the Flora

by maximumneptune



Category: Original Work
Genre: Deception, Entirely Plot, Gen, Hypnosis, Magic, Mind Control, Mystical, Portals, Story, Trapped, enchanted forest, forest, other dimension, spells
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-21
Updated: 2017-10-21
Packaged: 2019-01-20 14:49:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12435072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maximumneptune/pseuds/maximumneptune
Summary: Aubrey enters a portal to a forested dimension with plans to rescue her friend, who happened upon it accidentally. As it turns out, the forest has other plans.





	Don't Disrespect the Flora

Aubrey emerged from the portal in a burst of emerald light and turned around to watch as it shrunk behind her and finally vanished.

"Interesting," she muttered, then turned around to assess the situation. Her eyes widened. 

"Rachel!" she exclaimed upon seeing her friend, who was propped up against a tree only about a yard from her.

Aubrey rushed over to her and shook her gently. Rachel's blue eyes were heavy-lidded and glazed, and her brown hair was frizzy from the light breeze that was running through the forest clearing that they'd found themselves in.

Rachel's chest rose suddenly as she took a deep breath. She shook her head and squeezed her eyes all the way shut, then opened them. 

"Aubrey?" she asked, her voice breathy and slurred. 

"Got yourself trapped in a portal dimension, huh?" Aubrey asked with a grin. The focus was returning to Rachel's eyes, and Aubrey pulled her to her feet. She looked unsteady for a moment, but her legs held firm.

"What is this place?" she said, looking around her at the environment that was a stark contrast from the busy city in which they normally lived. 

The two friends were surrounded on all sides by a thick forest, with only one gap in the trees that looked like it could be a path. The vegetation boasted various rich shades of green, almost unnaturally so. There were no flowers to be seen among the trees and shrubs that were boxing Aubrey and Rachel into the clearing that the portal had dropped them into. The bright blue sky was visible through gaps in the foliage. Although the only source of light was the rays of light illuminating the soft grass below their feet, the dim forest had a mystical and friendly aura to it, rather than a sinister one. 

That was the problem.

"It's a forest," Aubrey joked. Rachel made a face at her.

"But really, it's a dimension separate from ours that you just happened upon. Nobody really knows what or who creates them, how big they are, or exactly how they work, but they're definitely magical, and they're definitely dangerous."

"Dangerous? How?" Rachel asked, furrowing her brow. 

Aubrey looked at her incredulously.

"You were just half asleep against that tree, and you...hm, wait," she said. "That must be part of it."

"What? Finish your sentences!" Rachel exclaimed. Aubrey looked at her frankly.

"Usually, the magic in portal dimensions is meant to ensnare people and keep them from leaving, which is why a lot of people who deal with this kind of thing think they might be created by fairies. Tell me, what happened after you got here?"

Rachel thought for a moment.

"I was really confused, and I tried to go back through the portal, but it turned green--it was red, when I went through--and it was like it wasn't even there. Then I tried my phone, and found out that it worked. That's when I called you, since I figured you'd know about this kind of thing."

Aubrey grinned and shrugged modestly. 

"I was kinda surprised when you actually answered, but I was really glad you did, and glad that I was able to tell you where I found the portal before my service cut out. Then it was completely silent, and I expected it to start being creepy, but it was actually just so peaceful, and..."

Rachel's eyes had started to glaze over again, and Aubrey snapped her fingers in front of her friend's face. Rachel grabbed her wrist and blinked a few times. 

"You need a manicure," she commented. 

"I'll keep that in mind for when we're outta here. But like I was saying, everything about this place is going to do its best to keep us from leaving."

Aubrey could already feel the forest's spell trying to drag her down. Her skin buzzed with the weight of the presence that she'd learned to recognize. 

"So, what, do we just wait for the portal to reopen?" Rachel asked. Aubrey considered that.

"I think we'd be better off going wherever the forest plans to take us. We aren't gonna get anywhere just sitting here and waiting for the spell to get us."

Rachel nodded, and the two walked off, side by side, into the break in the trees and down a poorly defined path. 

"Alright, so there are some basic rules for portal dimensions," Aubrey said, to break the silence before it could effect them. "Don't eat anything. Don't drink or touch any standing water, and for sure don't drink any running water. Water collected on the leaves of plants is fine."

"That's oddly specific."

"Yeah, it is. Don't smell flowers, don't go to sleep, especially at the bottom of a tree, and don't disrespect the flora."

"Got it," Rachel said. She grimaced. "There aren't going to be any weird, talking, magic animals here, right?"

"Portal dimensions don't have animals."

"That's something, at least."

The path was starting to widen. Before, Aubrey and Rachel had just barely been able to walk right next to each other. Now there was easily room for four people. 

"Hey, it isn't just plants anymore," Rachel said, pointing at a cluster of dainty purple flowers sprouting from a bush. 

"Pretty sure flowers are still plAGHH!"

Aubrey's stomach dropped as her body plummeted down into an unexpected pit in the ground and landed awkwardly in the cool dirt. Rachel landed beside her. 

The sudden impact drove all the breath from Aubrey's lungs and caused her to temporarily forget to be on guard against the magic, which took the opportunity to hit her as hard as possible. Her breathing, once she was done gasping for breath, started to slow. Her head and limbs felt heavy, and it was all she could do not to give in to the instinct that was telling her to let her head fall back and close her eyes. 

Instead, she dug her fingers into the vertical walls of the pit and kicked Rachel's leg lightly to make sure she hadn't fallen victim to the spell. 

"I'm gonna make a foothold, boost you up, and then climb out," she said. 

"Alright," Rachel said, after a moment. 

Aubrey pulled herself up to a standing position and looked up to see how far they'd fallen. To her relief, the top of the pitfall was only about three feet above her head. She guessed that it was a little less than nine feet deep in total. 

She chose a spot just above her knee and hollowed out a hole big enough to fit the front of her foot into, then made two more: one at eye level and one in the middle of the first two. 

"Okay, c'mon," she said. Rachel struggled to her feet. 

"Nothing broken?"

"Nope."

Aubrey locked her fingers together to create a step. Rachel put her right foot on her hands, and then, with a bend of her knees and a grunt of effort, Aubrey lifted Rachel up so she could access the higher footholds and climb out. 

"I'm up!" Rachel exclaimed as she disappeared over the edge of the hole. She peeked down at Aubrey. 

"My turn," Aubrey said, and boosted herself up using the holes in the wall. Rachel grabbed her wrists and helped to pull her out of the trap. 

The two sat on the forest floor, inspecting themselves for damage. The dirt stains on Aubrey's dark jeans weren't very visible, but they were apparent on Rachel's lighter ones. Rachel stood up and dusted off the seat of her pants. Aubrey pulled down her left pant leg, which had gotten rolled up in the commotion, then sighed and did the same. 

"Ready to keep going?" she asked. Rachel nodded, and they set off once again. 

The concentration of purple flowers increased as the trail went on. After a while, the path started to narrow once again, and Aubrey took it upon herself to restart the conversation that always seemed to be strangled by the silence of the forest. 

"It's almost like this place wanted you to bring someone else here with you," she suggested. Rachel looked startled. 

"What do you mean?" 

Aubrey shrugged.

"Your phone stayed operational just long enough to call me, and the portal wouldn't let you out, but it let me in. Knowing these dimensions, it probably wanted to snag two people at once."

"It's not getting either of us!" Rachel said firmly. 

"True that," Aubrey agreed. 

The path was so narrow now that the two had to walk single file, with Aubrey taking the lead. The trees around them were growing closer together, leaving even less room for them to try and stray from the path if they chose. The trees and flowered bushes formed effective walls that boxed the friends in.

"Are we going up a hill?" Rachel asked.

"A little, I think. What's that, up ahead?"

Aubrey squinted at a colorful blur that was just visible over the peak of the slight hill. She started to walk faster, curious about the splash of new color amidst the green and purple. 

As they approached, Aubrey warily regarded what was in front of them. It appeared, for all intents and purposes, to be a large rainbow that was being projected through a sliver of a gap in the treetops. They stopped before it. 

"That's beautiful," Rachel gasped. Aubrey had to agree. The vibrant colors of the rainbow took up the entire width of the pathway, acting almost as a sort of barrier. The other side, which seemed to be a new clearing in the woods, was visible through it. 

"That's what it is," Aubrey muttered. 

"Hm?"

Aubrey turned around to face Rachel. 

"This has to be some sort of spell, too. I'll bet that if we walk through it, the magic will be ten times stronger. I wish I had countermeasures. At this rate, I'm not sure I can fight it off." 

"What do we do?"

Aubrey didn't hesitate. 

"I'm gonna go through. Whatever happens to me, you'll have to snap me out of it. Then, when I'm all good, you can come through, and I'll do the same for you."

Rachel's eyes widened. 

"But you don't know what's going to happen!"

Aubrey gave her a regretful smile.

"No, but I will once I go through. Who knows, maybe it's nothing at all."

Rachel looked around helplessly for a different option. She even tried to walk through the shrub walls, which seemed to weave together even more tightly as she touched them. Finally, she turned back to face Aubrey, a resolute expression on her face. 

"Okay. Whatever happens, I'll get you out of it."

Aubrey turned towards the rainbow barrier. A chill ran through her body as she braced herself for the onslaught of magic that would surely hit her as she crossed. 

One step, two, and she was passing through the rainbow. 

Nothing could have prepared her for the explosion inside her mind that occurred as she emerged on the other side. 

The rainbow itself hadn't affected her vision as she walked through it, but now, as she stood in the clearing, everything seemed to burst to life. Every color was impossibly vivid and surreal. She could feel the energy of the forest around her. A small gust of wind blew by. 

Rachel was calling her name. 

Aubrey couldn't imagine going back to the ordinary, noisy city outside the portal dimension. Everything there was gray and mechanical. The silence and colors of the forest welcomed her. Her skin tingled with electricity, and she was vaguely aware of the feeling of rough bark against the palm of her hand, which she had placed against a tree for support as she swayed unsteadily on her feet. 

The forest welcomed her, and she was so tired. She hadn't been before, but now she was letting her limbs become leaden, her eyelids succumb to the weight of the world upon them. A small, sleepy smile crossed her face. 

Someone was standing in front of her. She regarded the person with half-closed eyes before curiosity gave her the strength to reopen them.

It was Rachel, but it wasn't. Her friend's face was contorted into an eerie grin. Her features seemed sharper, and her eyes had become glowing emerald orbs of light. Aubrey knew that this wasn't right, that Rachel should have come through the rainbow and joined her in the forest's embrace, but she found herself unable to do anything but await her friend's words.

"Sleep," 'Rachel' said, and Aubrey did.


End file.
